Hi Molly,
There is wide variation among school districts –and even individual schools. It’s very possible that your children’s school offers great school lunches and, if so, I applaud them.

Many schools, including mine, offers lunches that fulfill the regulations, but they aren’t good in both taste and nutrition. Ingredients matter. Also, the school is modeling unhealthy food a lot of the time. At least in my situation, we’re talking about students living in poverty looking to the school for their best meal of the day. I think many schools can do better.

I just wanted to say that leading an active lifestyle is great, but that does not compensate for or even make up for the harmful food that people consume. Children just should not be eating food that is ridden with preservatives, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavorings and colors, etc! School lunches should be healthier.

I even read an article once about a school that was growing a garden and taking an initiative to feed the children better. Now that’s what I want to see! 🙂

Melissa, this is so good of you to spread this awareness. High fructose corn syrup is so very harmful.

My daughter is home schooled, but I am sure school lunches are just awful. Seeing those pictures makes me want to cringe.

Children deserve better food!

High fructose corn syrup. Poison? Really? I think that’s a little, no I mean, really extreme!

School lunches are tied to The department of Agriculture. Is that a bad thing?

The part where you say: “Consider the effects of poor nutrition from the school lunches these kids eat: obesity, heart disease, diabetes, poor learning, drop outs, . . .” I have to say, it’s not the school lunches that make children obese. It’s the extra stuff they eat when they get home, it’s the lack of exercise, etc. It’s not the four little squares barely filled with food on their lunch trays that contribute to heart disease. With that said, I totally don’t agree with schools offering extras – they need to just keep to what’s on the tray. If the child is in poverty, and all their eating is this one meal, then it should have plenty of fat to sustain them for long periods of time. Kids are at school for 6.5 hours!

And if the food wasn’t frozen, I don’t know how they could manage to keep it fresh. I’d rather it be frozen than wasted because they couldn’t use it soon enough.

Feeding them crap? Really? (again) Pretty strong words. Have you actually seen a school lunch in person? The proportions are appropriate and moderation is key!

My kids actually don’t buy their lunches, but I’ve been a lunch helper plenty of times to see that what the children are fed is not nearly as bad as what you’re mentioning here.

Sure, it’s not homemade soup, but it’s a very well rounded meal for the price they have to keep it affordable. The school lunches aren’t the problem. People need to watch out for what the children are eating at home and be sure to lead an active lifestyle.

Thank you.

I think it is wonderful that Mrs Q, Sara Wu, is taking an active role in encouraging others to change what is served in cafeterias. Many children must eat what is served because they receive the meals with financial assistance, and many working moms aren’t able to pack lunches every day. A change to make school lunches healthier and more natural would be a good, good thing.